Harry's memoir Spare displayed beside How to Kill Your Family novel

The bookshop's display provoked a mixed reaction online

An independent bookshop has gone viral for displaying Prince Harry's memoir Spare alongside author Bella Mackie's novel How to Kill Your Family.

Bert's Books' display quickly gained thousands of likes and numerous comments when it was posted on social media earlier.

Some users speculated which author would sue the Swindon bookstore first.

Shop owner Alex Call, 35, said the staff thought it would be "quite light-hearted and make a few people smile."

In the post - which coincided with the book's release - the shop tweeted: "Anyway, we do have some spare copies of Spare if you want one", alongside a photo of its window display which shows copies of Spare next to Bella Mackie's book How to Kill Your Family.

Twitter users turned to the comments section to react to the post, with replies including "who will sue first HRH or Ms Mackie?" and "signed?".

To the person who asked whether the book was signed, the shop said: "Not by him, but I can sign if you like" and to the user who posted about who will sue first - "We've just put our bestselling books in the window… people are making all sorts of wild assumptions and connections" next to an upside down face emoji.

Despite claims in Harry's book dominating the news agenda for the past week, Michael Ritchie - who works in the shop - said they did not expect it to be a bestseller for long.

Speaking to BBC Radio Wiltshire, he said they had advertised the memoir on their website for a couple of months and only had a "handful of pre-orders".

Prince Harry's memoir Spare went on sale in the UK on Tuesday

"The price is £28 which I think is quite steep for a book," he added.

"People will go 'actually I don't know if I'm going to pay for that or (I'll) wait for the paperback'."

He also pointed out that Harry and Meghan have had "a lot of press already so (people might wonder) what is going to be in the book that we don't already know?".

Mr Ritchie said the publisher had been very "cagey" about Spare's content but thought perhaps it might be more geared towards an American audience than a British one.

He said they also had some Prince Harry bookmarks for sale but took them off the shelf after "everyone who came in would regale us with stories about why they weren't buying it".

"It became a bit draining after a while," he added.

He predicts the book will sell because of Prince Harry's celebrity status but then "it will last for a week or two and then just fade".

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Responding to the post, Ms Mackie wrote: "Thank you to the 8,000 people who've sent me this today.

"And thank you @bertsbooks, what an honour", followed by a knife emoji.

How To Kill Your Family follows protagonist Grace Bernard, 28, who attempts to eliminate family members to exact revenge on her father for abandoning her and her mother when Grace was a baby.

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